circling southern africa by land: a guest blog

After my public transportation post detailing connections and prices between Windhoek and Maputo, I received a lot of questions about transport to Harare, Vic Falls, and beyond. Since my friend SW did that route, she has written the following guest blog detailing her public transport experience through Namibia, South Africa, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Vic Falls, Botswana, and back to Namibia:

Now that I am back, I thought I could share my travels and connections. I did Windhoek to Maputo in 2 days. Day 1: 6.30pm, Intercape (www.intercape.co.za) from Windhoek to Uplington. Arrive 6.30am. Uplington to Johannesburg at 8am to arrive at 6pm. This was a sleeper coach so it really makes the overnight journey so much more bearable. I made the mistake of booking the tickets too late and the 2-legged tickets cost a total of 1100 Rands. If it has been booked at least 2 weeks in advance, it would have been way cheaper. The trip from Upington to Johannesburg also makes A LOT of stops. Arrived in Jo’burg around 7.30pm.

From Johannesburg, a ticket could be bought from Greyhound Citiliner counter at the same station Intercape drops you off. The coach will take you from Johannesburg to Maputo. It costs 220rands. Although it has been advertised that the coach will not allow you up without a Mozambique visa, i am not sure if the cashier took pity on me being a lone woman travelling and just said it will be ok and just told me to be quick at the custom getting a visa….The driver didn’t mention about my lack of visa either* (*see July 2010 update in comments)… The Citiliner left at 9pm and it was packed with locals who finished grocery shopping.

Got to the South African border, Komatipoort at 4.30am, stamped my passport and ran to the Mozambique custom, which was about 10minutes’ walk. The bus will wait for you outside the Mozambique custom office. Maybe it was the early hours, there was nobody else applying for visas. I got mine done in 15minutes. When I got out, the bus was being searched by the custom police and it held us up for another hour. We continued to Maputo and got in around 7.30am.

Took a taxi from the station costing 200meticals (around 50rands) for a 10-min journey, which i was told later that i have been ripped off a bit. It should have been about 150 meticals.

From Maputo, a coach from TCO (Olivera) could be taken to Vilanculos/Beira. I was told by the  staff from my hostel that it is one of the more comfortable ones. Cost: 1030 meticals from Maputo to Vilanculos, leaving everyday at 4am. However, on the day of travel, I was told before we reached Vinaculos that we will not be going to Vilanculos. Instead, i was told to get off in a town 50km outside Vilanculos and bundled into some local’s combi instead.

From Vilanculos, I was heading to Harare. At the marketplace, there are several combis and mini-buses going to several towns in Mozambique everyday. There isn’t a straight combi to Chimoio. There is a combi to Inchope for 400 meticals and from there, a taxi will take you to Chimoio for another 50meticals.  From Chimoio, there should be more combis to Mutare, Zimbabwe border. I was lucky that on the night before I travelled to Mutare, I met a German guy who would be travelling with a Zimbabwe couple to Mutare. They agreed to let me travel with them if I shared fuel cost of US$20 which seemed fair to me. I already got my ticket to Inchope. The local guy took me to the station at 9pm to try to get a refund back, claiming i was too ill to travel. The driver was not happy to refund me, and after some phantom discussion, i was told that i could have 300 meticals back which was better than nothing for me.

We left with the couple from Vilanculos at 9am the next day and drove almost non-stop to Mutare and arrived around 5pm. Just shortly before we reached the border, the driver noticed that my travelling companion was wearing combat shorts. He told us it is illegal to wear that in Zimbabwe because only soldiers can wear them. We were so near the border with no toilet around. The poor guy  had to change his pants by the petrol station with some curious looks…At the Mozambique border, there were a lot of locals exchanging meticals and rands to USdollars. I was told to change my money here. I asked for some small change (one or five dollar bills) since they have problems with change in Zimbabwe.

We slept overnight in Mutare with a lovely lady who has sort of converted her house to a backpackers’. However, it felt more like a bed & breakfast to me! There was no others there so my travel companion and I took a room each for US$10 each. Dinner was recommended by her at Sasha’s, a 15 minutes’ walk away. Breakfast served at the house costs US$5-6. ( Ann Bruce’s Lodge, 99 Fourth Street, Corner of 4th Street and 6th Ave, Mutare, Zimbabwe, Tel +2032063569, annbruce@mweb.co.zw). This is a comfortable stop-over as I was told not to continue my travels in the evening as many cars have no headlights and streets have no lights which makes travelling dangerous.

Next morning, we walked half hour to catch a combi to Harare. I cannot remember the street but it’s the one after Robert Mugabe Ave and after Ave B, C, D, E! There were lots of combis and buses to Harare. I was told by my local friend to take a combi, as they will spend less time loading passengers and make lesser stops. However, in the chaos and confusion at the station, we were pushed into a bus. The bus stopped just about every 10minutes, loading/unloading, sometimes just stalling… The 263km journey took us 5hours.

Within Zimbabwe, the trains STILL WORK despite doubts and confusion. They just do not run everyday, which makes connections fiddly. A good website to go to: www.seat61.com.

Please note: These trains have not been maintained for a very long time. There will be no water or services on the trains. Bring your own drinking water and food. Bring extra water for washing up if you wish. From Harare to Bulawayo (around 400km ), a sleeper ticket costs US$10, US$7 for standard seat. Runs 3 times a week at 9pm. Due to arrive at 8am but arrived at 1pm for us. (Refer to seat61.com for details)

From Bulawayo to Victoria Falls (around 400km), there will be trains running 5 times a week, US$10 for a sleeper, US$7 for standard seat. It leaves 8pm to arrive 7am but it arrived at noon for me. Please note that Bulawayo uses rands mostly, whereas Harare uses US$, so it would be wise not to change all your rands at the border.

From Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, there is no custom crossing from Zimbabwe to Namibia. You will need to exit to Namibia either via Zambia or Botswana (Ngoma). If you want to go to Zambia, you could cross the bridge at Victoria Falls and head towards Livingstone and catch a bus from there to Namibia. I decided to go via Botswana. There are several companies in Victoria Falls town centre doing Day trip to Chobe National Park in Botswana costing around US150, which includes transfer to and from Victoria Falls (70km each way), game drive, boat cruise and a good lunch at a lodge. If like me, you are not coming back to Victoria Fall, and heading towards Namibia, you could bargain around US$30 off. Botswana Visas need to be sorted at Victoria Falls before you go. They will not issue visas at the border anymore. A family of 4 was refused entry when we were there because they had no visas.

From Kasane, Botswana, a combi can be taken to Ngoma for 10 pulas (around US$2). It took about an hour. Alternatively, taxis could also be taken by the Mall but it would cost more. From Ngoma, you could go through the Botswana border and walk 1km to the Namibia border. from there, taxis can be taken to Katima Mulilo. 25 rands for 65 km.

I hope this will help someone going this direction!